This week we welcome FantasticLand author Mike Bockoven to the podcast. As anyone listening in the last few months know, Mike's book FantasticLand is one of Kyle's new favorite books. Mike was in SoCal for a wedding and we were lucky enough to convince him to come hang with us. We talk plenty about Mike's awesome book including where the idea came from and the process of getting it written while balancing a job and a family (super inspiring stuff!) plus Mike also celebrates the illustrious career of Vincent Price. You'll learn a ton of stuff about the iconic actor that you might not have known. It's an interesting guy coming on to talk about another interesting guy. Plus we answer listener questions about both Vincent Price's career along with some fun questions about Mike's book. If you haven't checked out FantasticLand you owe it to yourself to give it a read. Plus, his next book The Pack is out this July.

Rad me with a spoon! This week, Kyle and Matthew welcome comedian and musician Lisette Alvarez to chat about the wild world of teen movies. From the early days of delinquent films in the 40's and 50's through the genre's golden age in the 80's and 90's the trio break down some of their favorite movies and break down what elements you need to make a classic teen movie. The conversation of course breaks down and everybody goes on a tangent or two about their own experiences in high school. Lisette shares what it was like to be a teen in Miami, Florida. Plus they continue the running dialogue on This Is Rad about indoor versus outdoor high schools. It's a pretty grand adventure into the world of hormones, romantic yearnings, and sweet parties. So grab your poetry notebook, record a mixtape riddled with romantic intrigue, and transport yourself back to those heady days of high school for a festive journey into one of the once great worlds of genre cinema!

Weekly Rads:

Kyle – All At Once by The Screaming Females (album)

Sound of Siam by Various Artists (album)

Matthew – James Harden's crossover in the Clipper's game agains the Huston Rockets (sports thing)

200 Episodes! Hello everyone and welcome to this very special episode of This Is Rad! Today we celebrate 200 episodes! 4(-ish) years of podcast radness! To mark the occasion Kyle, Matthew, and Laura sat down to chat about life and reminisce a little about the past four years. Plus, we have a very special guest for the episode. Back in November Kyle had the opportunity to chat with the founder of Troma Entertainment, Lloyd Kaufman. Lloyd is one of Kyle's heroes and it was a pretty surreal experience to get to have an extended conversation with one of the people that influenced the direction of his life. It's a fun chat. Troma's latest film Return to Nuke 'Em High part 2 is out March 8th. Go support some true independent cinema and check it out. Also, from the bottom of all of our hearts, thank you so much to everyone who listens to the show, tweets at us, or has ever supported the show. We constantly talk about how lucky we feel to have such cool listeners who share our sense of goofy enthusiasm for all things rad. 200 episodes and we're just getting started. Thank you!

Rad to the hills! Rad for your life! This week Kyle and Matthew are joined by comedian Nat Baimel and musician( and Kyle's former roommate) Eric Bryan for a chat about one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time Iron Maiden. Everyone talks about their first exposure to Maiden and they gives a few tips on how to approach the band's daunting discography. They explore the unspoken rivalry between Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and the ways in which the two bands vary in their exploration of heavy metal. Plus, this episode features one of the silliest intros the show has had in a while. Crank the volume, cut the sleeves off your t-shirt, and come hang out with four guys quietly sitting in a recording studio talking about bands! Also, check out Nat's new album “Be Nice” out February 23rd!

Who let the rads out? Who? Who? Who!? This week Kyle and Laura are joined by hilarious Las Vegas comics Jozalyn Sharp and Tyler Jolley to discuss man's best friend. We talk dogs. We talk about em a lot. Because we love them. We talk about our experiences with our own pets and tell some pretty great stories about dogs being dogs. Plus we chat about dogs in movies and answer listener questions about our for legged friends. Time was limited but there will DEFINITELY be a sequel episode one day. But in the meantime, grab a fuzzy buddy, snuggle up, and enjoy! Also, Kyle and Burnside are reunited for the first time in a month on the intro!

Weekly Rads:

Burnside: Overwatch League

Kyle: Jack in the Box's food truck menu and the new line of flavored Diet Cokes

When a problem comes along, you must... sit down and have an in depth conversation about Devo. This week Kyle sits down with his best friend Jarrod Gilbreath to discuss Jarrod's favorite band, the one and only Devo. They go album by album exploring the development of the band. They talk about the trend in the late 70's of art collectives that accidentally turned into rock bands. Plus they explore the world of music videos before music videos were a thing. It's a fun episode and hopefully it encourages you to check out some deeper Devo cuts, they were waaaaaaaay more than just a one hit wonder band.

School is in session and todays lesson: Radness. This week Kyle and Burnside sit down with Kyle's cousin Drew Donnelly who is a high school physics teacher. While he has the most experience, both Kyle and Matthew has spent time in the teaching trenches and each of them have some pretty amazing stories to share. They discuss using snark in the classroom as a tool to fight mean teenagers. Drew recounts some insane stories of student pranks. Seriously some of his former students really redefined what it means to mess with a teacher. But for those who shudder at the idea of going back to school, fear not! Drew is one of the people who hipped Kyle to a million nerdy things and the boys go on a pretty sweet side tangent about PC gaming. Enjoy this supersized episode and thanks for listening!

Weekly Rads:

Kyle: What Nerve: Alternative Figures in American Art 1960 – the Present (book)

It's time to d-d-d-d-duel! This week we have Connor McSpadden of the Mean Boys podcast and LA comic Atlas Novack for a chat about the insane world of Yu-Gi-Oh! Both boys spent the bulk of their teen years playing this collectible card game and them attempt to explain it to Kyle and Burnside. Burnside has a little bit of advantage as he has spent some time playing the Pokemon card game (along with a now in recovery Hearthstone addiction), while Kyle is wholly ignorant to this sector of the nerd world. And man do the boys get deep. They discuss the mechanics of the game, the mythology of the show, and give their own personal insights into the idea of living in a world built around card dueling. If you are a fan of Yu-Gi-Oh!, you are going to have a good time with this episode. If you have no idea what is going on, there are some pretty sweet riffs to be had. If you've ever wondered if Connor has dreams of opening a real world duelers island out in international waters, you'll get your answer inside!

(Brief Warning: the language in this episode gets a bit salty at times, nothing crazy but figure it was worth a heads up. Listen at your own discretion.)

Porgs, space race horses, and a planet made of meat. Rad returns for our yearly Star Wars state of the union with our resident Star Wars experts Klee Wiggins and Ed Greer. For our fourth installment the gang have gathered together a little over a month after the release of Star Wars: The Last Jedi for a round table discussion of what they loved, what they hated, and everything in between. SPOILER ALERT: if you have not seen Star Wars: The Last Jedi you might want to duck out on this. But for real, if you haven't seen it yet and you're still worried about spoilers maybe you're working too much. It's been over a month and you only needed like 3 free hours somewhere along the line. Go see it if it means that much to you, and then come join this party. The gang break down this polarizing edition to the Star Wars cannon. There are also some pretty sweet riffs. Klee and Ed are always favorite guests and this episode is no exception.

You cannot be told what is rad. You must be shown. This week on the show we have comedian Ken Garr discussing the films and general radness of Keanu Reeves. They work through the classics like Point Break and Speed along with a few of their personal favorites that you might not be as familiar with. Ken and Kyle also talk about their odd friendship, for two guys who live in the same city they only ever seem to see each other at gigs out of town. Speaking of out of town, you get some fun bonus guests on the intro this week, Kyle has been doing a few dates out of town with Keith Carey and Nicole Becannon and has been pretty much sick the entire time. He'd like to thank Dave Apkarian for being a saint while the three of them crash at his place. Burnside and Laura will be back next week and they send their love!

No weekly rads this week due to illness. Unless you wanna count “not vomiting” as a weekly rad.